When I hear talk about "the work ethic" I puke. CEOs talk about it, whose annual salaries average one hundred and thirty times their workers' wages. Whatever the phrase purports to describe, it is not an ethic; it is not an idea of work's value or a moral dictate but a feeling or tone connected to work, and it is temperamental and cultural ... I no more have a work ethic than I have self-discipline. I have so many pages a day, so many books and essays.
— Donald Hall, Life Work